The decision to keep a pet should never be taken lightly. Once you are a pet owner, you have to be committed to the pet for its entire life. At no time should abandoning your pet be an option.
What does it take to be a responsible pet owner? Here are eight tips to remember:
- Feed your pets regular nutritious and balanced meals.
- Provide your pet with suitable housing and groom it well.
- Provide appropriate training for your pet.
- Bring your pet to a vet when it falls sick.
- Spend time with your pet.
- Be considerate to others (pick up your pet's poop and don't let them stray).
- Sterilise your pet to prevent unwanted litters.
- Microchip your pet for easy traceability if it is lost.
Find out more about the responsibilities of a pet owner by going through the issues below.
Different types of pets have different requirements for diet, housing, exercise and healthcare. As a responsible pet owner, you should ensure your pet's wellbeing by providing it with proper care.
Download the Pet Starter Kit below for tips on caring for your pet.
Pets, like humans, can fall sick. Monitor your pet closely for 48 hours if it appears off-colour or shows any of the following signs :
- No/Poor appetite
- Vomiting
- Diarrhoea
- Inactive / Lethargy
- Difficulty in defaecating or urinating
- Reluctance to stand or move
- Limping
- Excessive scratching or shaking of the head
- Moist, red skin
- Abnormal strong body smell
- Severe thinning of haircoat
If your pet's condition does not improve, you should not delay in taking it to your veterinarian.
Your veterinarian can also advice you on other matters such as vaccination, diet, exercise and general healthcare for your pet.
Training helps to enhance the relationship between the pet and owner. A trained pet is able to do what the owner says and is usually rewarded for its obedience. The training process itself helps to build and strengthen the bond between pet and owner. It also helps the owner gain better understanding of the pet which usually results in more respect and appreciation of the pet.
Training your pet can be time consuming and frustrating at times, but it is well worth the effort. Here are several tips on training :
- Conduct "play training" where by the training tasks are made into fun games and your pet's play drive is used as motivation. Intelligent pets can also be stubborn, so you may have to outwit them! Make your training fun for the pet
- Ensure that you are in control from the beginning. However, there is no need for extreme measures to prove you are the boss. Always be consistent in the commands you give, and keep the commands short and simple.
- Some pets have a have short attention span. It is best to have several short 5-10 minute training lessons instead of one long one.
- Start the training at quiet places familiar to your pet, and be sure there are very few things and people around to distract him. Speak to your pet strongly but not in an angry voice.
Almost any type of pet can be trained, but to different extents. In every case, patience and time are needed. Remember that pets cannot be trained overnight.
Dogs can be trained to do tricks, negotiate obstacle courses or even trained to be working dogs (eg rescue dogs, sight or hearing dogs).
Dogs, cats and rabbits can be also be toilet trained.
As a responsible pet owner, you should send your pet for microchipping. Microchipping ensures that your pet can be traced and returned to you if it is lost.
A microchip is a tiny transponder, the size of a grain of rice. It is a permanent identification system that is implanted under the pet's skin and read by a microchip scanner. We strongly recommend that it conforms to ISO (International Standards Organisation) standards 11784 or 11785.
The implantation is done with an injector that places the microchip under the loose skin between the pet's shoulder blades. The microchip, when scanned, will reveal a code that is unique to the pet. By consulting the appropriate microchip registry database, relevant information, including the pet's owner, breeder, emergency contact, even health problems and food requirements, can be obtained.
Microchipped pets have the best chance of being returned to its owner, should it get lost. Most owners do not expect to lose their pet, and when they do, it becomes their worst nightmare. Recall the number of times you have seen "LOST PET' signs in your neighbourhood. There are also many advertisements in the newspapers every week put in by distraught owners appealing to the public to help them locate or return their beloved lost pets.
Whist it is important to provide your pet with some form of visible identification such as a collar tag or a tattoo, microchips provide one of the surest way of identification and hence recovery of a lost pet. This is because tags all too often come loose and are lost. Tattoos may fade or blur over time. Tattoos are also difficult to find on a lost, frightened pet, reluctant to let strangers search its body for identification.
Microchips provide the best form of permanent identification for your pet, which can be easily scanned. Increasingly, caring pet owners are using microchips to assure that if their pets are ever lost, they will be found and returned as quickly as possible. Responsible breeders are also making use of microchips to assure that the puppies they sell will be identified and appropriate action taken if they are ever lost or, for any reason, turned over to an animal shelter or pound.
Surgical sterilisation of pets is important to prevented unwanted litters. Often, pet owners find themselves in a situation when they so not know what to do with their pet's newborn litter. Attempts to find homes for their pets' offspring are usually in vain. Many baby animals end up being abandoned when owners cannot cope with them. As a responsible pet owner, you should never allow pet abandonment to happen.
The best way to prevent this is to sterilise your pets.
It is a surgical procedure in which a part of the reproductive organ of an animal is removed to permanently stop it from reproducing. The testicles are removed in the male; the ovaries and uterus in the female. The procedure is done by a licensed veterinarian under strict sterile conditions and with the animal under general anaesthesia. Sterilisation is done mostly on male and female dogs, cats, rabbits and guinea pigs.
Sterilised pets are less aggressive and more affectionate. Sterilisation is also beneficial to pets as they become less prone to certain diseases.
Sterilisation can help to:
- Prevent unwanted litters
- Modify the pet's behaviour so that it is easier to manage
- Prevent womb infections and reduce mammary cancers in female animals
Most veterinarians recommend that sterilisation be done when your pet has passed 6 months of age.
Sterilisation can reduce your pet's level of activity, thus making it more homely and easier to manage. The food intake should be reduced to prevent obesity. In very few cases, an older sterilized pet may lose some control of its bladder or have thinning of its body coat. These are not serious conditions and can be easily resolved with medication, if necessary.
| Myth |
: |
| The surgery is painful and dangerous for my pet. | |
| Fact |
: |
Sterilisation is the most common and routine surgery performed on animals. There are minimal risks if the pet is sterilised by a licensed veterinarian. The pet will not feel any pain as the procedure is performed under general anaesthesia. Most pets recover quickly and are back to normal after 24-48 hours.
| |
| Myth |
: |
| My pet will become fat and lazy after sterilisation. | |
| Fact |
: |
Lack of exercise and overfeeding cause the pet to be fat and lazy, not sterilisation. Exercise your pet regularly and monitor its food intake to prevent excessive weight gain.
| |
| Myth |
: |
| Sterilisation is unnecessary. After all, I can easily find new homes for my pet's offspring. | |
| Fact |
: |
Many pets are put down each year because there are not enough homes for them. There is no guarantee that suitable homes can be found for your pet's offspring. Do not add on to the number of homeless animals.
| |
| Myth |
: |
| Sterilising my pet is too costly and not worth the while. | |
| Fact |
: |
Sterilisation is a once-off procedure that will last the pet's lifetime. The cost of sterilisation is also small compared to the cost of raising a litter of the pet's offspring. Sterilisation can also be considered an investment as sterilised pets are less susceptible to certain illnesses.
| |
If you are a dog owner, take note of the licensing, leashing and muzzling conditions that are required by law. These laws include :
- All dogs older than 3 months must be licensed. Licensing details are available here.
- HDB apartments are allowed one dog of an approved breed or its cross. The cross should be 40 cm or less at the shoulders and weigh 10 kg or less. For the list of dogs approved by HDB, click here.
- All dogs have to be leashed when in a public area. In addition, the Pit Bull, Akita, Neapolitan Mastiff, Tosa and their crosses, and the Bull Mastiff, Bull Terrier, Doberman Pinscher, German Shepherd Dog (and related breeds), Rottweiler and Perro de Presa Canario must also be muzzled.
- License your dog once it has passed 3 months of age.
- Discipline and socialise your dog properly.
- Control your dog properly at all times and do not let it become a nuisance.
- Do not allow your dog to bark excessively.
- Have your dog on a leash when it is in a public place.
- Muzzle it, if required by law.
- Pick up your dog's poop in public places.
As a responsible pet owner, you should ensure that your pet is well cared for if you are away from home. Arrange for a family member or friend who is knowledgable about the proper care of your pet to look after it while you are away.
Alternatively, you can choose to send your pet to a boarding facility. Go through this checklist to ensure that you choose a proper facility that is able to provide appropriate care for your pet.
It is a misconception that pets cause asthma. Asthma is a genetically inherited condition and attacks can be triggered by various agents such as house dust, dust mites, pollen, lint, stress, cold water and animal hair/saliva. Many owners give up their pets upon the identification of an asthma sufferer in the family. However, studies have shown that although animal dander is a potential trigger in people who are asthmatic, it is often not the primary trigger. Recent studies also show that children living with a dog or cat at home are less likely to develop asthma. This research supports the current thinking among allergists that exposing a child to dust, animal dander and other allergens at a young age will help him build up immunity that will reduce the chances of him developing asthma.
Animal hair and saliva are not considered to be major triggers and if a pet is suspected, it is recommended that the physician does proper allergy tests to confirm this before any decision is made to remove the animal. Only if tests prove that animal dander is a main trigger should steps be taken to reduce the risk of exposure, including removing the animal.
For asthmatics who are sensitive to animal dander but who still want to keep pet dogs or cats, they can follow some simple steps to reduce contact with dander and other allergens. These steps include:
- Keep the house clean and well-ventilated
- Wash walls and floors periodically
- Vacuum regularly with HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Arresting) filter vacuum cleaners to capture particulate airborne allergens
- Use HEPA filters in the bedroom
- Place allergen-proof covers over mattresses and pillows. Blankets and sheets should be washed every week in hot water
- Keep the pet out of the bedroom. Since the average person spends many hours in the bedroom sleeping, this measure will reduce exposure to the dander
- Bathe the dog and wet-wipe the cat (as many cats do not like water and can be hard to bathe) weekly to remove the dander that accumulates on the fur
- Have a non-susceptible family member brush the pet outdoors on a regular basis
- Wash hands after handling the pet
- Wear a mask when changing a cat litter
Click here for more information
Click here for more information
Click here for more information
Click here for more information
|